OUR PROGRAMS
Lighthouse supports homeless young people to take their rightful place in the community by providing them with a home, a family and a program of therapeutic care that is trauma informed, individually-tailored and proven to work.
The Lighthouse Therapeutic Family Model of Care™ (TFMC™) is implemented by accommodating young people in suburban homes. The typical home caters for up to four young people and provides 24-hour, seven days a week physical and emotional support. On average each young person stays in a residential home for between 18-24 months. Each home is managed by an experienced Carer and is supported by a number of other care and clinical professionals, as well as volunteers.
The Lighthouse program provides young people with ‘life membership’. This means that even when a young person has moved out of a Lighthouse home, they can remain connected to the Lighthouse family and community through the Aftercare and Outreach programs.
Each young person in the Lighthouse program has an individually tailored IDP to meet his or her specific developmental needs and goals. A mutual agreement of care between the young person and Lighthouse is facilitated through the Individual Development Plan (IDP). The IDP sets out and documents all relevant information on the young person including their personal short and long term goals, life skills, emotional, psychological and physical wellbeing. Ongoing assessment in these, as well as other areas of a young person’s life, forms an important part of the IDP process.
Lighthouse does not discriminate and is committed to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety, culturally and/or linguistically diverse cultural safety, safety of same sex attracted and gender diverse, and the safety of children with a disability.
We believe that the Lighthouse TFMC™ used in conjunction with the resources and experience of valued partners in the youth homelessness sector is one of the many answers to the problem of youth homelessness in Australia.
The Psychological Wellness Program
The Live in Care Program for young Mothers and Babies program
The TFMC™ Live in Care Program for young people
It is based on two carers (with respite carers covering annual and other leave) who provide integrated care to four young people with complex needs, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the same ‘ideal family’ home setting. The carers are supported by the Lighthouse Psychological Wellness Team, the Community Care Team and the Residential Care Manager.
As part of this Program, short-term programs such as Anger Management, ‘I Can Cope’ and Art Therapy are conducted to meet the needs of individual young people.
The Adult Community Transition Program – ACT
The Lighthouse Aftercare and Outreach Program
To deliver the our programs, the Lighthouse Care Services Management is made up of three teams who work together
- Psychological Wellness Team
- Community Care Team
- Carers Team – made up of senior, primary, secondary and respite carers
Measuring Outcomes
The Therapeutic Outcomes Assessment (TOA) is a tool that was developed by Lighthouse Foundation to measure therapeutic outcomes for Children/Young People in the TFMC™, across 8 developmental outcomes areas. It provides the Child/Young Person and the Care Team, vital information about the outcomes achieved through participation in the program.
This information provides the opportunity to create Individual Development Plans around the therapeutic and developmental needs of the Child/Young Person. It also provides the organisation vital information about the effectiveness of the TFMC™ program to support the recovery process for Children/Young People.
The TOA, is made of 8 developmental domains, which include:
- Learning
- Physical Development
- Emotional Development
- Attachment
- Social Development
- Identity
- Autonomy/Life Skills
- Relational and Community Connectedness.